


Four Times He Woke Up in Nick's Arms and One Time He Didn't

by tinx_r



Category: Riptide - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-07-20
Updated: 2008-07-20
Packaged: 2017-10-13 18:29:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/140350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinx_r/pseuds/tinx_r
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The title says it all</p>
            </blockquote>





	Four Times He Woke Up in Nick's Arms and One Time He Didn't

**Duc Huay, Vietnam  
**  
He woke up hurting, choking on the thickness of the air and the heat pressing down. Panting. A weight on his chest, burning in his legs, pounding head.

Cody couldn't see much, black metal and a triangle of gray-green sky; jungle silence pressed against his ears, a silence full of breathing, creeping, living things. All of them dangerous and some of them human, just like Pitbull said.

He groaned softly, and the weight on his chest shifted. "Cody?" His new partner's voice, shaky.

"Nick?" he whispered. "That you?"

"Yeah, man." Nick moved, easing Cody to sit up, and Cody realized Nick's arms were around him.

"What happened?" he murmured.

"Enemy fire." Nick shuddered, and Cody felt the young pilot's reaction right through his own body. He looked up and met Nick's blue eyes, saw stark horror and pain looking back. There was a trail of dried blood on his cheek and lip. "Man, I thought you were dead," Nick muttered.

Cody reached for Nick's arm, squeezed, offering what comfort he could. Little enough. "I'm hard to kill, pal," he said. "We're in this together."

Nick nodded. "Radio's fucked now but I got a call through before we hit. They got our location pretty good. I just hope Charlie didn't."

"I've been here long enough to know that Pitbull will get through, Nick." Cody squeezed his arm again. He looked at the blood on his partner's face. "Are you hurt, buddy?"

"A little banged up." Nick sat back, sliding down next to Cody, one arm still supporting him. "Nothin' serious. Think I broke my nose. Maybe cracked a rib. Got lucky, I guess." He shuddered again. "Cody, how 'bout you, man? Where you hurt?"

"I think I just hit my head." Cody moved his limbs experimentally. Sitting up had eased the burning sensation in his legs. "Looks like we both lucked out, huh?"

"Long as it holds til they come get us," Nick agreed, taking a mouthful of water. He passed his canteen to Cody and tried a smile. "Wanna play '20 Questions' while we wait?"

  
 **Fort Ord**

He woke up screaming, fighting, trapped in the garish horror playing out again inside his head. Rigid, gasping, the past in his ears, nose, mouth, it took him a moment to see and feel the present. To recognize his room, still new and strange.

To realize he was held in Nick's familiar arms.

Cody collapsed against Nick, limp and trembling. Fought the tears.

"I've got you, man. It's over. You're safe, huh?" Nick's voice, low and soft. Nick's hands, gentle on his back, his neck, his hair. Cody closed his eyes. Remembered. Shook.

"Cody, take it easy." Nick held him close, soothed him with his words and touch. "Just a dream."

The tears won. Cody fought them back, choking. Crying was for babies. Before the guns and stench, he'd known that.

"I've got you," Nick repeated, his tone as gentle as his hands on Cody's skin. "Let it go, Cody. You're safe now."

The warmth in Nick's voice touched him in places no-one else had seen, found wounds Cody didn't know he had. He held on to Nick, aching and dizzy. "Nick," he whispered raggedly.

"Don't fight it, pal." Nick's arms tightened and Cody knew, suddenly, that he was safe, that this was home. Nick was right. Fighting was for war, and he was done with that.

He cried hard, broken sobs that burned in his chest, and left him gasping for breath. Nick held him safe until his breathing steadied and he raised his head. "Thanks," he whispered, pulling back. "Sorry."

Nick let Cody sit back, but kept an arm around him. "No," he said softly. "I know, man. I dream too. Guess I'll wake you up some nights, before we've been here long. The walls are pretty thin."

Cody nodded, tried a smile. "You mind sitting up a bit longer?"

"Wasn't planning on going back to bed yet. I could use a cup of coffee, how 'bout you?" Cody nodded and Nick gave his shoulder a squeeze. "Thought you might feel like a round of '20 Questions'."

This time, Cody's grin was recognizable. "Nick, yes. I really do. Thanks, pal."

  
 **King Harbor**

He woke up cramped and tired, the wall cold and hard against his knees. Not alone in the bunk, warmth over his back and around his chest. Cody smiled. Kept his eyes closed. Wriggled backwards a little, searching, finding. A broad chest against his back. Cody released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and opened his eyes.

"Morning," Nick whispered, kissing the back of his neck.

"Morning." Cody sighed happily, stretched a little. Moaned as Nick's teeth caressed his neck. Moaned a little more as Nick pulled him close and ground against his ass. "Oh, Nick..." Nick's hand slid over his chest, stroked his stomach, found his cock.

The friction of Nick's cock in the crack of his ass. Nick's breathing, short and hot against his neck. Nick's mouth, soft and urgent, wet on his back. Cody groaned and arched back against him as Nick's hand explored, closed, stroked.

He pushed his ass back to meet Nick's hips, feeling Nick's skin slide over his, moaning again as Nick's cock rubbed between his cheeks. He whimpered as Nick groaned against his shoulder.

Sweat and Nick's pre-cum lubed his skin and Cody felt the change as Nick thrust faster against him. Moaning, Cody fucked Nick's hand, Nick's hips driving him forward. Faster. Harder. Stronger. _'Nick!'_

Cody didn't know if he'd yelled out loud or only in his head. His come was striped on the wall, globs sliding down towards the bunk. Nick groaned hard and long, his teeth closing lightly on Cody's shoulder. Cody's cock jerked again as Nick's juice spurted over his ass.

"Come here," Nick whispered, breathless, in his ear, and Cody rolled over, still trembling a little.

"Nick..." Nick's lips silenced him, Nick's tongue assertive yet gentle. Cody relaxed as Nick pulled him close against his chest, holding him, loving him. "Nice," he whispered, when he could speak.

"Very," Nick said back to him, softly. "Very nice. I love you, Cody."

"Yeah, Nick." Cody smiled into his lover's eyes. "I love you, too." He kissed him again, closing his eyes, tracing Nick's lips with his tongue, storing their shape and savoring the taste of him.

Nick ran his hands over Cody's back, down to his ass, up to his shoulders. Tangled one hand in his lover's blond hair. "All those games of '20 Questions' could've been so much more interesting," he murmured.

  
 **Redondo**

He woke up cold and bruised, wedged somewhere small and dark. Hard to breathe past the stifling cloth. Rope bit into his flesh.

Tried to move. Hit his head on metal, a yelp of pain caught by the gag, left to echo uselessly in his head. Kicking, he felt another wall. Small box. Stuck.

Cody fought rising panic and tried to remember. He'd been behind the Palms hotel, trailing the suspect. He'd heard a gunshot and spun around, then the last thing he'd seen before getting jumped was an empty street in front of him, an empty street behind. Empty space where Nick had been.

He closed his eyes, squeezed them shut til he saw colors, whimpered softly against the fear. _'Nick.'_ Nick hadn't been on the street. Nick wasn't here. He'd escaped. He must have. Maybe he'd fired the shot.

Maybe he hadn't.

Cody struggled to breathe. Couldn't, wouldn't think the worst. He pictured Murray and forced his breathing steady, counting until it was. Murray was there. He'd fix things. He would.

Wrists raw and stinging, Cody finally gave in to the knowledge he couldn't get loose. Kicking the concrete wall did nothing except hurt his bruised and aching back. There wasn't a way out.

All he could do was wait. Someone would come. His captors would come back. Or Murray would find him, arrive with the cops. Cody choked, swallowed, focused on breathing past the gag. Nick was okay. He had to be.

And if he wasn't... Cody roughly shoved the thought away, dragged his bleeding arms against the rope and welcomed the sting of pain. Their first assignment together, the chopper had crashed. They'd come through that and they would come through this. He remembered that day in the jungle, Nick's arm supporting him as they waited for backup, Nick helping him into the waiting chopper.

He just wished he had Nick's arms around him now.

Staccato gunfire made him flinch, and for a hazy instant he wondered if he was back there in the jungle. He blinked against the darkness, the burn in his wrists jerking him back to the present and the fainter sounds of sirens and voices.

Light assaulted him and he squeezed his eyes closed against the brightness. Murray's voice, high pitched and excited. "Cody! Cody, thank goodness." Cody shuddered as Murray's hands loosed the gag, and he spat out the fabric wadded in his mouth. Eyes still shut, he breathed deeply, feeling Murray working on the ropes on his arms.

"Nick?" Cody asked, voice not much more than a whisper.

"I'm here, Cody." Nick's hurried step echoing on the concrete floor. The fear in his voice. Relief flooded Cody and he blinked a couple of times, focused through eyes still narrowed against the light. Nick stepped carefully into the concrete box that had been Cody's prison as Murray freed his wrists.

"What hurts?" Nick's hand closed gently on his shoulder and Cody slowly raised his head. Safe.

"I'm okay, Nick," he said, a little stronger this time. "Few bruises. I'm hard to kill, pal."

Nick eased him to sit up, smiling ruefully. "I'm glad about that, man."

Cody leant thankfully against his partner, dimly registering Murray exclaiming over his raw wrists. "Nick," he murmured.

"What, baby?" Nick spoke softly in his ear.

"Been waiting half an hour for you to ask me if it's animal, vegetable or mineral, buddy."

Nick closed his arms tight around him, growling "Only animal I give a fuck about right now is you, Cody."

Cody smiled, letting his eyes close again. His topic had been 'Nick Ryder' anyhow.

  
 **Home**

He woke up blinking, sleepy, Nick pressed close against him, breathing deep and even. Gray dawn light filtered through the blinds and marked shadows on Nick's dusky skin.

He stretched a little, savoring Nick's body. Moved against him, chest to chest. Exulted in the warmth of Nick's skin on his. Traced the muscles across Nick's back with his palm. Nick's arms tightened around him and Cody nuzzled his neck.

"I love you," Nick murmured, kissing Cody's forehead.

Cody sighed happily. "Sometimes I think waking up with you is the best part of the day."

"Sometimes?" Nick asked, bringing a hand up to trace Cody's jawline. Cody nipped at it gently. "How about the rest of the time?"

Cody thought of the night behind them. Nick's body. Their bodies together, joined. Passion and pleasure. The heat and strength of his lover, beneath him, around him. Moving with him, breathing with him. Lying, spent and sheltered, in his arms.

"The rest of the time - well." Cody grinned. "Wanna play '20 Questions' to find out?"

Nick rolled him over, straddled him. Kissed him hard, long, left him panting. Smiled into his eyes. "Don't need to, babe."  



End file.
